Montco man fights charges he used camera to peep up skirt of King of Prussia mall shopper

NORRISTOWN — An Upper Dublin man already awaiting trial for allegedly stalking a Springfield woman and stealing her underwear during a break-in at her home claims prosecutors lack sufficient evidence to take him to trial on new charges he used a camera to look up a woman’s dress at a King of Prussia store.

Kornwell H. Chan, 37, of the 1900 block of Audubon Drive, through his lawyer Stephen M. Geday, filed papers in Montgomery County Court asking a county judge to review the charges, “and if insufficient evidence be presented” that the charges against him be dismissed.

Chan, currently in the county jail while awaiting trial, faces charges of invasion of privacy in connection with alleged incidents that occurred between September 2011 and May 13.

Loss prevention officers at the JC Penny store along North Gulph Road in King of Prussia, while reviewing surveillance cameras on Sept. 4, 2011, observed a suspicious man in the store “using a camera to look up a woman’s dress,” according to a criminal complaint filed by Upper Merion Police Officer Brandy Faherty.

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The man was observed carrying “a red bag with something black on the one side of the bag,” and continuously placing the black object just under a woman’s dress while he followed her in the cosmetics department, according to the arrest affidavit.

At the time of the incident the man’s identity was unknown and Upper Merion police produced a flier of the suspect’s image in an attempt to identify him.

On May 13, a loss prevention officer at the Lord and Taylor store in the King of Prussia Plaza notified police she saw a man at The Plaza who looked similar to the suspect in the flier and police located Chan at the mall and discovered he was carrying a bag with a hidden camera inside of it. Police reviewed the video inside the camera, which revealed footage of Chan following a woman in the JC Penny store and continuously placing the hidden camera underneath her skirt, showing the woman’s underwear, authorities alleged.

At the time of the May 13 incident, Chan was on bail awaiting trial on charges of stalking and burglary in connection with separate alleged incidents that occurred between November 2011 and January 2012.

That investigation of Chan began Jan. 1 when Springfield police responded to a township home to investigate a burglary.

“The only items known to be missing from the home were undergarments, including bras and panties,” Springfield Detective Bruce Pike alleged in the arrest affidavit, adding the items were removed from a dresser in the bedroom of a 26-year-old woman, who lived with her parents.

While investigating the burglary, detectives learned from the young woman that she had allegedly been stalked by a man she met in October 2011 while on her daily commute to work at the Oreland train station, according to arrest documents. The man, subsequently identified as Chan, spoke to the woman and asked her questions of a personal nature.

During one conversation Chan, who indicated people called him “Corny,” revealed to the woman what he believed was her name “as he had found her account on Twitter” and recognized her from that, according to court papers.

“She found this increasingly obnoxious and attempted to distance herself from him while on the platform by approaching by a different route or looking in different directions in order to avoid contact with him,” Pike alleged.

Chan allegedly continued his pursuit and on Dec. 21 presented the woman with a handmade Christmas card, explaining, “because I see you every day,” according to the criminal complaint.

Upon learning about the alleged stalking incidents, police set up surveillance at the train station between Jan. 6 and Jan. 13, parking the victim’s car on the lot and observed that Chan noticed the woman’s parked vehicle and appeared to be searching for her on the platform.

Authorities also obtained records of incoming phone calls made to the home where the woman resided and determined Chan called the home nine times between Dec. 24 and Jan. 1, the time the alleged burglary occurred.

A search of Chan’s home uncovered the victim’s undergarments in Chan’s bedroom, the arrest affidavit alleged.

About the Author

Carl Hessler Jr. writes about crime and justice at the Montgomery County Courthouse for The Mercury and 21st Century Media Newspaper’s Greater Philadelphia area publications. A native of Reading, he studied at Penn State University and Kutztown University before graduating from Alvernia University with a degree in communications. He is a recipient of a National Headliner Award and has been honored for his writing by the Keystone Press Association, Philadelphia Press Association, Society of Professional Journalists and the Associated Press Managing Editors of Pennsylvania. Reach the author at chessler@pottsmerc.com
or follow Carl on Twitter: @MontcoCourtNews.